The Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday awarded a $904,675 “preconstruction services’’ contract to a company involved in the design and construction of the Chalmette Loop levee system between Bayou Bienvenue and Bayou Dupre.

The corps said in a news release that the contract with Odebrecht-Baker could grow substantially: The contract includes two options that, if awarded, would account for most of the estimated $278 million in construction costs.

The corps said those options include building 8.5 miles of new floodwall to elevations of 27-32 feet that would tie in to the floodgate at Louisiana 46 and Bayou Road on the west and Verret to Caernarvon structures on the east. Additionally, new fronting protection would be constructed to an elevation of 32 feet at St. Mary’s Pump Station.

The Chalmette Loop is a 22-mile levee system to protect St. Bernard Parish from surges coming from Lake Borgne and the Gulf of Mexico. The levees now stand at 19 1/2 to 21 1/2 feet and will be raised substantially.

The loop is designed to protect against surge created by a 100-year storm, which has a 1 percent chance of occurring each year.